Crushing Violet/The Attack
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Grandville
The dark metal, barely lit lab, with lights that glowed an oppressive red built the mood in Lab 14-C in Black Scorpion's complex. One tech, hunched over his monitor bay, looks up in alarm and says to a Huntsman standing near him, "Sir, We're getting an excess reading of Strange Matter in the Giza."
"That Bardoux woman again. Don't worry, it'll fall off shortly," replies the Huntsman. The tech nods, as that is all he can do. But he watches the readings and notices they're getting more intense. He quickly runs a calculation on the computer and says in a distressed tone, not wanting to contradict the Huntsman, "Sir, we're reading a possible time crunch."
"Fuck." The Huntsman goes to his own bay and starts his own routine. Getting in touch with several people at once.
St. Martial
"The Angelica Bardoux project is now over," said the voice on the other side of the screen that Johnny Sonata is staring at, his face pale. Speaking without his usual bravado Johnny says, "I thought that was one of Ghost Widow's projects."
Black Scorpion responds impatiently, "It's in my domain now. She foolishly thought the Bardoux girl could be brought into her faction, but she has been allowed to grow too powerful to let such trifles matter. She could accidentally destroy St Martial with all the exotic matter she has been producing lately. Not to mention the possibility of a destructive paradox."
Johnny turns paler at that thought, "I see. How much space do you need?"
Two weeks later
Angie slept in her large bed. Though in truth, sleeping is not quite the right word. Her body rested but her being was awake. She has grown used to this and uses this time to think, and it's this time that usually gets her in trouble. As this extra time to contemplate has caused her to think of some rather genius ideas, such as her recent trips to the future, or her more recent crunching of 3 months of time down to 5 hours, and spending 2,100 hours, or so, studying nursing so she could test out of college.
This awake-while-sleeping had an extraordinary advantage however. For example, her ears still worked, and processed the auditory signals from the outside world to her being. And so she heard the many boots lightly thumping on the floor. Too many to be just Luna, and falling too heavy to be Luna with Monica or Claire..
She forces her body awake and reveals another advantage, feeling no weariness or mental sluggishness. She's able to rise up and stand on the bed just as the wall in front of her is dissolved quietly and beyond stands several Arachnos troops. Two teams of Wolf Spiders, a team of Crab Spiders and a couple of Bane Spiders. And just as she observes them, they all level their weapons at her, and she hears a feminine voice in her head, speaking cruelly, yet distorted, the voice warped as it contacts her mind, "It's time to come home, Violet."
Angie smiles hearing those words, unlike the last time that command was sent to her, she feels no pain. That programming having been burnt out of her fully by evolution. And all her time fighting organized Rikti troops in the tunnels, gaining experience fighting squads, tells her what to do. She quickly forms a wormhole underneath the mass of troops and jumps into the air, floating there as they fire their weapons at where she was just as they fall through the wormhole.
Knowing she only has seconds, the quick formation of the wormhole only sending them just beyond the pillar in the center of the room, she recites a quick incantation and is hugged immediately in her impervium armor, the gauntlets Vanguard provided her activated and the forceshields around her hands coming into being.
Angie flies out beyond the pillar, an aura of fire surrounding her armored form, reaching the soldiers just as they recover. Her shielded gauntlets enhance her control over gravity, as she smashes tiny particles together inside them, letting the small particles of matter drop harmlessly to the floor, but the anti-matter pools together until she forces it out of the forceshields, straight at the lone Fortunata Seer, striking her chest and dissolving it with a minor explosion.
She smiles at the troops as they once again level their weapons at her, saying nothing. For what can be said? She's in her element, fighting her favorite foe of all. A gravitational anomaly streams out of her head just as the troops fire, laser beams being partially deflected by the anomaly but some striking her in the armor causing her to be pushed back slightly, while web grenades land all around her, holding her in the air and beginning to form a cocoon around her.
As several of the Wolf Spiders rush up to where she is and raise their weapons to strike up close, the fire surrounding Angie burns hotter and ignite the floor beneath her, burning the webs surrounding her to ash and melting the soles of the armored boots of the Spiders. As they scream in agony, she fills one forceshield with antimatter, and drops the other, wreathing her glove in flames. She spins around, striking those around her alternately with fire and the stored anti-matter.
As the grunts fall, partially vaporized or burned, the more elite troops fire another volley of lasers at her, their training causing them to aim more effectively and the lasers impact against her armor, causing her to fall back, barely stopping herself from falling. She gazes at them with malice in her eyes and forms a gravity field around them, causing them to be held in place and forcing them to drop their weapons. She separates from her gravitational anomaly and starts shooting bursts of anti-matter at the troops in turn, vaporizing two of them before the Earth's gravity field reasserts itself and the troops are free to move.
In a matter of seconds, Angie has managed to kill 10 Arachnos troops, but 8 of the better trained ones are still standing. And they're standing between her and the door. Not seeing any better option, she rushes forward while the anomaly hangs back, beginning to effect the gravity around the troops without real strategy.
As she reaches the troops, they change their posture, quickly forming up to fight up close. Unfortunately for them, Angie burns hot. She drops the other forceshield and stops the creation of anti-matter in her gloves and fights up close. Quickly forming an intense gravity field around one of the troops, as the anomaly does it to another, cutting down the number of active troops to 6.
And they use that number well. The Crab Spiders slice their arms at Angie, most glancing off her armor but one grazing her unprotected cheek. She feels it burn and quickly directs the fire around her into her blood stream, burning out the poison that entered with the slice. The two Huntsman, all that remains of the Wolf Spider teams, pick their rifles up off the floor and hit Angie in the chest with the butts, causing her to let out a pained noise.
She heats the air around her, causing their armor to get unbearably hot and she spins in the air, the flames from her right hand reaching out and striking those next to her, before reaching out and melting one Huntsman's chestplate and causing him to fall to the floor screaming before quickly expiring. The Anomaly rips the other Huntsman in two, and the tail edge of it warps the arms of one Crab Spider's backpack.
Angie re-closes the forceshields around her gauntlets with a thought and starts filling them up with anti-matter again, launching two blasts of it at two Crab Spider's, their heads vaporizing immediately.
As the two remaining Crab Spiders each fire a barrage of blasts at Angie, the Anomaly spreads itself thin and rips them apart at the cost of it's own cohesion. The pain of the Anomaly dissipating and reentering Angie's body causes her to fall to her knees. Which in turn makes her lose her concentration and the field holding the two remaining soldiers weakens and vanishes.
The two Bane Spiders immediately rush into action, grabbing their maces and straightening their posture. As they shoulder their maces, Angie reacts quickly, leaping up to her feet and opening one of the forceshields, punching one of the Bane Spiders, the fire and the anti-matter causing her fist to go right through his upper chest, dropping him immediately.
The last remaining soldier fires his mace at Angie, the energy from his powerful weapon slamming against the Impervium guarding Angie's leg, causing the armor to rupture inwards into her right leg, causing her to scream and crumple again to the floor. He lifts his mace and slams it down against the wound, causing her to scream again, the mace melting due to the high heat of her fiery aura.
Angie quickly creates a gravity field that pulls towards the far wall, the Bane Spider falling towards it quickly. Then, face twisted in pain, she positions herself to aim her hand at him, filling the forceshield on her left gauntlet with antimatter, and then propels it at him, straight into his groin, vaporizing his pelvic region.
She slowly floats herself up in the air, not moving her right leg at all. She observes her home for the last two and a half months, seeing the shelves of books ruined, books partially burnt on the floor, the art on the walls all blackened with scorch marks.
And she realizes that she can't stay there. If Arachnos is coming after her, the Giza is no longer protecting her. In fact, where could she be safe from Arachnos? Where?
Trying to puzzle where she can hide out, she quickly flies to the door of her place and walks through, flying as fast as she can, pushing several people that ended up in her way, out of it. At 55 miles an hour.
